Eli Roth’s long-awaited Borderlands movie has finally hit theaters, but unfortunately, it isn’t off to a great start. The project started production in 2021, and according to stunt coordinator Jimmy O’Dee, they were told that Borderlands would shoot with the assumption that it would be R-rated.
“We were shooting an R-rated movie when we did it. We always knew that we were going to go either 15 or R rating, it’s 15 in UK, for a slightly mature audience,” O’Dee told ScreenRant. “So, we were blowing people’s heads off. And we were cutting feet off. We were doing all of that. But then, you know, a lot happens. We shot that nearly three years ago, or we just finished it. So, I guess a lot happens in post, and they see where it’s going to go and what market they’re aiming for. But literally the idea and the brief was carnage, head cutting off, feet cutting off. Go for it and then we’ll sort it out in post. It was that kind of thing.“
Given Roth’s history in the horror genre, it’s no surprise that he would want to bring a little of that to Borderlands. “He loves horror,” O’Dee said. “It was funny, he was on the second unit, he came over, and he was like, “Uh… just cut the ankles off. Yeah, get the knife and cut the ankles and we will leave these stubs.” It was kind of like there wasn’t enough gore for him sometimes. Eli was all over that kind of stuff. He was great to work with. It was such a fun time with him.” The film ultimately received a PG-13 rating for intense sequences of violence and action, language and some suggestive material.
What an absolutely baffling choice to make at the last minute. To think this movie, based on an ultra-violent game that children aren’t supposed to play, needs to cut out all the ultra-violence to garner an audience of children that…shouldn’t be playing the games. Stupid fucking studio execs.
And I hate the trend of director’s cuts lately, but a Roth movie getting neutered down to pg-13 absolutely deserves one.
From what I’ve heard in reviews, it sounds like the decision to make Tiny Tina a main character drove a lot of the market shift. It sounds like they made her more vulnerable and innocent to contrast with the tired, jaded Lilith instead of the demented bomber that fits into the tone of the game
Tina actually is the most emotionally vulnerable major character in Borderlands 2, as Assault on Dragon Keep shows. However, she’s also a deeply disturbed demolitionist who tortures someone to death on-screen.
Trying to turn her into an innocent little girl feels utterly bizarre.
So they completely ignored why she’s the fan favorite character and just have a different personality to her
Unfortunately, money talks. Studios are afraid to spend big money on a film with a “limited” R rated audience. Lower the rating, more bums on seats.
In a world with Deadpool, you’d think they’d learn their lesson. And for one of the most popular gaming franchises around, no less.
It’s like that bit in The Simpsons Movie where Lisa tells Homer he has to speed up through the loop to actually make it - if they’d had the nerve, they could’ve had a major hit. But nope, they’re too scared to commit and now it’s gonna crash and burn.
Deadpool is looking to hit $1 billion in 3 weeks. They’re worried about not making money with an R rated movie. They’re out of their minds, back when I was a kid my dad took me and four friends to see Starship Troopers. There are ways to see R rated movies even if you are not old enough. If it isn’t rated NC-17 then kids will get in to see it.
Exactly! I often hear that NC-17 is the kiss of death for some films. Apparently, the bigger cinema chains won’t even show NC-17 films. (This is all 2nd hand knowledge as I’m obviously not from the US.)
Thank god for R rated films! 😆
Just to add in that Borderlands made 8.8 million it’s first weekend. How is some exec board going to blame this on someone below them. I bet that billion dollar box office from D & W is really making them salivate and cry at the same time.
Agree with that’s what they think and sometimes it’s the case, but man they do not get nuance. This isn’t some romcom that shows a bit too much boob, it’s a movie based on a video game that literally advertised bazillions of guns. Anyone who knows the franchise wants it to be as nutty and gruesome as possible. Nerfing the movie I think took bums out of seats
That and the casting. Kevin Heart as Roland and Jack Black as Claptrap was enough for me to turn off the trailer. I knew it was going to be bad from the get go.
But they hired the beloved director of The House With A Clock In Its Walls! I’m sure the rest of his filmography is equally approh my god.
God damnit, it’s Borderlands, an R rating is almost mandatory
That’s like the morons that thought making Alien vs Predator PG-13 was a good idea
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I really dislike movie ratings in general. I watched a ton of 18+ and R rated films as a kid and think I turned out just fine.
On the other hand a few kids I grew up with that had helicopter parents and weren’t allowed to watch some Disney movies because they thought it was too harmful ended up very… Damaged. Like they can’t moderate themselves and decide what is too much for them, have nightmares at the smallest little things, can’t separate out fantasy from reality in some cases, etc.
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I agree, but it’s obvious why they did it.
The teen demographic represents a huge part of the movie theatre crowd, and cutting that section out with an 18 or 15 rating can be the absolute death of a movie financially.
If a movie is an 18, like a horror, they need to lean into the adult marketing really hard and make it feel like it’s worth going to for busy adults.
Movies that have action and comedy elements rarely do well with an 18 rating. They will miss the adult crowd because they seem childish and not worth going to, and they’ll miss the child crowd too, because they literally can’t go!
They messed up on this so bad by not committing at the outset to what they were trying to do, and not sticking to it all the way through.
Except…checks notes the first borderlands game came out literally 15 years ago. Pretty much every fan of the series is already 17 and over at this point, even if they got their parents to buy the games for them when they were 12 year olds.
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But it worked! Sales are skyrocket- oh, nevermind.
Yes, it was a bad decision all around.
If they had committed to it being 18 rated, it would likely have been much better and more enjoyable as a movie.
I’m not saying they made the right decision, I’m only saying that I understand the chain of thought going through some executive’s head that lead to this decision being made and the end product we now have.
The entire problem is that movies are often made with the primary intention to make money, rather than being made to be the best possible movie they can be, and that can be a huge hindrance to the final product.
It’s actually not obvious. We just got the third highest grossing R-rated film of all time, and it was an action comedy film.
So that pretty much confirms what some people were speculating. Reviews mentioned there were a lot of jarring cuts mid-fight that they probably had to cut scenes that were too violent.
Scrolling by without paying much attention, I thought this thumbnail was for a gritty remake of the movie Holes.
Business majors claim another victim.
Release the Roth Cut!!
It was one if the things that struck me, they are using all sorts of weapons to fight off waves of baddies and you don’t see as much as a graze. It may go some way to explaining why the fight direction was so poor. Would going R have saved the film? Probably not, but it could definitely have made it semi-watchable. My screening had 4 walkouts, from about 20 people, and I suspect they made the best move.
Eli Roth cut when?
Taken from Wikipedia. I didn’t realise the film had been shot so long ago in 2021!
Filming began on April 1, 2021, in Budapest, Hungary, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and wrapped on June 22. On June 4, 2021, first look images of the cast were released, with black and white images obscuring all but the cast’s silhouettes.
In January 2023, it was announced the film would be going through two weeks of reshoots directed by Tim Miller, due to Roth’s commitments to Thanksgiving (2023).
Zak Olkewicz wrote new pages for Miller. In June 2023, Mazin removed his name from the project, replaced by Joe Crombie; Mazin denied reports that Crombie was his pseudonym. Additional literary material was credited to Berg, Uziel, Taylor, Rettenmaier, Olkewicz, Chris Bremner, and Sam Levinson. Steve Jablonsky composed the film’s score after replacing Nathan Barr.
It’s always worrying when a film’s script is credited to so many people!
Won’t be watching it in the theatres after all I guess…
